“A small dam brings a village back to life”

This article from the International Labour Organization (ILO) tells the story of Saida Zouaoui, a farmer from Teburnuk in Tunisia. She helped in the rebuilding of a local dam, enabling her village to store enough water for drinking and growing crops.

The works in Teburnuk were part of ILO’s IPDLI project (Pilot Initiative for Integrated Local Development), funded by the European Union. Its objective is to support a decentralisation process and to create a local economic dynamic that generates decent jobs in 12 municipalities in Tunisia.

Saida says, “Everyone’s known for a long time that there was only one thing I wanted to do: make the dam operational and irrigate the entire region, for the farmers to come back and life to resume. Everyone knew that was my dream.”